Roadless Red Alert!

Breaking news: The Bush administration is planning to auction the controversial Mike's Gulch roadless logging project this Friday, June 9th. Logging could begin within days after the auction.

The Mike's Gulch timber sale would saw into the largest roadless forest in Oregon: the 105,000-acre South Kalmiopsis Roadless Area. In addition to harming the South Kalmiopsis, Mike's Gulch would set a dangerous national precedent by logging roadless forests for the first time since the 2001 Roadless Rule was approved.

In a move to gut the Roadless Rule, the Bush administration has asked state governors to complete complicated petitions to protect roadless forests in their states. While some anti-conservation governors are not participating in the process, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski is currently creating a petition. Despite a promise to provide "interim protections" to roadless forests while petitions are being completed, the Bush administration is moving ahead with roadless forest logging in Oregon.

NEST finds species to stop old growth timber sales

The Northwest Ecosystem Survey Team (NEST) will be conducting surveys for red tree vole nestsa small rodent which is the main food source of the endangered spotted owlin the "Trapper" timber sale, a tract of old-growth forest in the McKenzie River watershed, the source of Eugene's drinking water.

The Northwest Ecosystem Survey Team (N.E.S.T.) is a group of forest defenders committed to protecting the habitat of rare species associated with old growth and late-successional forests. NEST enforces environmental protections built into the Northwest Forest Plan (NWP). In 2004, Bush and the timber industry conspired to end the protections provided by the Survey and Manage portion of the NWP. However, their conspiracy was short lived because in January, a U.S. District Court judge upheld Northwest Forest Plan rules that required on-the-ground inspections for various animal and plant species before logging can begin. This ruling halted more than 140 logging projects on public land in the Northwest -- about three-quarters of them in Oregon -- after concluding that the Bush administration illegally stopped checking for sensitive species before letting the cut proceed. [ NEST Needs Volunteers!! ]